Working Out in Pregnancy –Do’s and Don’ts

Exercises in Pregnancy: What You Must Know

To shorten the recovery time, reducing the pain, and easy delivery, exercising is good in pregnancy but due to the fear of miscarriage or other such complications, only some exercises are recommended and beneficial for you. As you are expecting a baby, your body is sensitive and needs special conditioning and care. Exercising for 30 minutes is perfect for this beautiful phase of life. As the Don’ts in exercising may harm more than the Do’s can benefit so let’s begin with the Don’ts. Later in the article, I have covered the DOs in exercising which is very useful for pregnant women.

Don’t for Exercising While Pregnant

1. Heavy Lifting

Heavy lifting is strictly a prohibited exercise for the pregnant women as it may lead to premature birth, low weight in the baby or even miscarriage. The baby is forming in your womb and body is getting prepared for delivery by loosening the hip muscles and many such sensitive changes. Practicing cautions like keeping the back straight if you need to lift heavy weight is highly necessary in this case. Avoid lifting any weight above 20 pounds as it may harm you.

2. Bending

Shifting in the center of gravity and weakening of the ligaments are the consequences of growing baby bump as you are expecting. Due to this, bending forward, followed by leaning back, may strain the spine or damage the ligaments. To avoid complications in pregnancy, try to sit on knees or squatting instead of sudden bending.

3. Lying on Back/Ab Workouts

Don’t try those workouts which include lying on back or involving abs as it may cause extra pressure on spine and rectus abdominal. Better will be to focus on the core area and do pelvic tilts, reach, and curls.

4. Breathing Yoga Which Works on Abs

Yoga is great for your pregnancy but not if it involves working on the abs i.e. abdominal areas. Just like the previous point, some Breathing Yoga exercises (say KapalBhati/ Skull Shining Breathing, Kumbhaka/ Breath Retention |, Agnisaar/ Churning of Abdomen) require stressing the abs. It may have the bad effects on the baby.

5. Exercises with Risk of Falling Down

The sports which require contacting or have the risk of falling down such as Basketball are unsafe for you and the baby. Though these exercises directly do not harm but are potent in causing bad consequences in you fall. Also, don’t try to run fast while going up or down from the stairs. Looks like you have got most of the don’t Do’s in exercising while pregnant, here is something you can do for a healthy and active pregnancy –

Dos in Pregnancy – Exercises for Expectant Women

1. Kegel

Your pelvic floor muscles and the baby want you to start doing kegel if you are not doing them yet. These exercises will also reduce the risk of anal incontinence which is common. Start with holding your pelvic muscles tight for at 10 seconds. Try doing 20 at a time and repeating the same set thrice a day.

2. Squatting

Read this article to know everything about squatting during pregnancy. It helps in the easy delivery and body strengthening for healthy baby birth.

3. Swimming

Go weightless in water! Swimming is an excellent exercise for you as it has no harm of falling on the follow or putting extra weight on the spine. But still, don’t go for fast strokes or jumping in the water from a height.

4. Walking

Pregnancy is not the time to sit or lay down for the whole day. If you want a healthy baby and quick recovery after delivery, try to walk daily. You can take breaks if feeling tired but try walking for at least 30 minutes a day. It is not tough, right?

5. Yoga

The Breathing Yoga Exercises, requiring abs workout are a No-No as mentioned above but there are many Yoga exercises which are very useful for you. Deep Breathing, Bhastrika/ Bellows Breath, Anuloma-Viloma/ Alternate Nostril Breathing and Humming Bee pose are some of the best Yoga poses for you. Know more from here. These dos and donts are applicable starting with first trimester of pregnancy. Even though the changes in body are not yet drastic the care must be taken as the chances of miscarriage are higher in first trimester. These Do’s and don’t Do’s are very useful while you are exercising in pregnancy. Is anything missed or not explained, acknowledge me by commenting below!

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